What a Ride
by Turiel528
Summary: 15 year old Victoria Turner is sent back in time to the Caribbean where she meets Jack Sparrow and Will Turner and gets caught up in their adventures. Set in CotBP. Rated for violence, mild language, and sexual references. Now finally complete.
1. The Beginning

So, yeah this is my very first story. I've been working on it for well over a year. I wanted to get most of the story done before I started posting it. Anyway, the usual disclaimers. I don't own Pirates, Risk, or any other thing that I could be sued for. Basically, all I own is Tori and her family. As a side note, I don't intend for Tori to sound like a Mary Sue. It's surprisingly difficult to make a female OC and not have her sound Mary Sue-ish. That aside, enjoy the first chapter of What a Ride.

* * *

"Victoria!" my dad called. "It's time to get going!"

I rushed around my bedroom to find my shoes. "Just a minute! I can't find my shoes!" I yelled back to him. I looked under the bed. "I found them!" I called triumphantly. With my shoes on and one last look at my poster of Will Turner, I rushed out of the room and down the stairs. My clumsiness kicked in then and I wound up sliding on my butt down the stairs.

"I don't want to rush you if it means you're going to kill yourself, Tori," Dad commented as he saw my grand entrance. "You ready to go?"

"Yup," I answered, "but tell me why I have to go to Nicole's birthday party. We don't get along." Nicole, my cousin, was having her 16th birthday party with the family that day. We're only one month apart in age, with me being the younger, but in terms of liking each other…well, let's just say it would never happen, and I was less than thrilled to be celebrating her "sweet 16."

"Tori," my dad said sternly, "like it or not, Nicole's family. Although you may not get along, we're still expected to show up for her party. And I expect _you _to behave."

"She's the one that starts it…" I protested.

"And you're the one that chooses to continue it," Dad finished. "Now let's go. We're going to be late."

On the long car ride to Nicole's house, I amused myself by comparing Dad to Will Turner, my favorite character from my favorite movie, Pirates of the Caribbean. They are actually surprisingly similar. In appearance Dad looks kind of like a short-haired version of Will. In personality, I guess Dad's just like Will. He's somewhat naïve, but his heart is in the right place, and he'd do anything for those that he loves.

I guess I should've cut my dad some slack earlier; he raised me practically by himself since my mom died when I was little. I don't remember much about her, though. The only reason I was stubborn was because I didn't want to go to Nicole's party. I was being selfish.

The party itself was rather uneventful. After Nicole and I said hi, we avoided each other. I spent some time with Kevin and Eric, my identical twin cousins who were practically brothers to me. They are a few months older than me, but for 16 year-old boys they are very mature. I think that's part of the reason why I get along with them so well. Anyway, we were playing Risk, and I was losing spectacularly when Dad came over and told me it was time to go.

"See that wasn't so bad," he told me on the way home. "If you and Nicole don't really talk to each other, then some arguments just won't happen." I heard what Dad told me, but most of my attention was on a car in front of us that was swerving erratically.

"Hey, Dad?" I said. "I think that guy in front of us is drunk."

"I think you're right," he replied. "We'll just have to be careful then."

Despite Dad's being careful, the car in front of us suddenly slammed on its brakes. Nothing could've been done to prevent hitting it. We slammed into the car hard enough to set the airbags off. After making sure that I was alright, Dad told me to stay in the car, and he went out to exchange insurance information with the other driver.

The man was drunk alright. He also had a gun. I heard an argument start outside of the car. The man was angry at my dad for hitting him. Dad tried to explain his side of the story, that nothing could be done to prevent it, but the drunken man would hear none of it. He went into to his car and pulled out his gun. Dad realized he was in danger now and tried to get the man to see reason. The man wouldn't listen. He yelled something and pointed the gun at my father.

BANG! Dad fell to the ground, dead. Despite his warning to stay in the car I rushed out to him. My mind was reeling. I could hardly believe what I had seen. "Dad?" I whispered to his body. "Please don't be dead…please." I hugged him to myself and starting crying. My guide, my mentor, my father was dead. "Please come back…"

"I don't think he's gonna," a voice behind me slurred. The drunken man was behind me. I felt anger like I never had before surge inside of me. This man had taken my father from me. When the man approached me, however, he raised his gun to me. My fiery anger from a few moments before had turned to terror. I honestly thought that this man would kill me too. My mind was telling me to run, but I froze. I was simply too terrified to run. He moved so that he was close enough for me to hit him, his gun pointed at me the whole time. I took my chances then. I didn't spend 5 years in grade-school with a class of 14 boys and 2 girls and learn nothing about defending myself. I kicked him, hard, and ran.

Where I ran and how far, I don't know. I eventually found myself at the top of a small ravine that fell into a river. I didn't know if the man had given chase or not, and I was not going to risk him catching me. I started to make my way down the ravine when I tripped into a small cave in the ravine wall. It was a perfect place to hide. If I hadn't have fallen into it, I would've never found it. I lay down and tried to sleep, but the events of that night kept playing in my head. I fell asleep eventually, wishing I could see my father again.

I could feel the sun shining on my body. _Odd, I fell asleep in a cave. _I could hear people around me, chickens clucking, and…the ocean? _I wonder if this is part of a dream. _A sharp pain in my face confirmed that it was not a dream. "What the…!" I yelled as I shot up. A chicken had pecked my face. _A chicken? _"Hey, I'm not bird food," I told it.

Now that I was awake, I started to look around. I was in a street of what looked to me like an 17th century town. _Hey, this looks strangely familiar. _It did, but since I was both exhausted and emotionally drained, I didn't recognize it right away. Some of the buildings were damaged, and there was debris all over the street. My first real shock came when I looked down at my clothes. No longer was I in the jeans and t-shirt I had been wearing the night before. Now I was in 17th century style clothing. They were very simple really, just pants or breeches as I've heard them called, boots, a belt, a shirt, and a sword clipped to my belt. _A sword, huh. All I know is pointy end into the other person._

Next to me there was a man who I thought was my father. He was unconscious. I moved closer to him to get a better look at him. _That's not my father! That's Will Turner! _That was my second big shock. I was seeing my favorite movie character! Yet he was now a real person. _I know I was comparing Dad to Will yesterday, but this is so not what I meant when I said that I wished to see my father again.

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_I hope you've enjoyed it so far. Chapter 2 is coming soon (once I'm done editing it for the 500th time). Since this is my first story, it would be wonderful if you reviewed. Constructive criticism is always welcome, and since this is a work in progess, there's a chance I'll take your advice. 


	2. Commandeering

Well, here it is. Chapter 2. Enjoy.

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Will woke up, said something about Elizabeth and started to walk off. He walked straight into me and tripped over me since I was still sitting on the ground.

"I'm sorry," he said to me. "I wasn't paying attention."

"That's alright," I replied. "You seem a bit…preoccupied."

"Right," he said. He then started to walk away. I decided to follow him. If he noticed me following, he said nothing about it. We went straight to Norrington and his men, who were planning how to rescue Elizabeth. By now, I had figured out where in the movie we were. It was the day after the _Black Pearl _attacked Port Royal.

I hung back while Will approached Norrington saying, "They've taken her. They've taken Elizabeth!"

"Mr. Murtogg, remove this man," Norrington said in a somewhat bored tone.

"We have to hunt them down!" Will continued. "We must save her!"

"And where do you propose we start?" Governor Swann demanded. "If you have any information concerning my daughter, please share it."

"That Jack Sparrow, he talked about the _Black Pearl_," Murtogg offered.

Mullroy corrected him by saying, "Mentioned it is more what he did."

"Ask him where it is," Will suggested. "Make a deal with him. He could lead us to it."

"No," Norrington sighed. "The pirates who invaded this Fort left Sparrow locked in his cell, ergo they are not his allies," he explained. He turned to Governor Swann. "Governor, we will establish their most likely course…"

"That's not good enough!" Will yelled as he buried his hatchet in the table.

"Mr. Turner," Norrington said as he pulled the hatchet out of the table, "You are not a military man. You are not a sailor. You are a blacksmith." He grabbed Will by the shoulder and pulled him off to the side. "Now is not the moment for rash actions," he continued. "Do not make the mistake of thinking you are the only man here who cares for Elizabeth." Norrington returned the hatchet to Will and went back to discussing tactics.

"That went well," I commented to Will.

He gave me an odd look and asked, "Were you following me?"

"What do you think?" I replied. Then I said, "I want to help you."

"Why? You don't even know me," he pointed out.

"Something's telling me I should," I replied. It was true. My dad told me once, "If in doubt, follow your instincts," and now my instincts were telling me to go with Will. Banishing the thought of Dad, I added, "Besides, I have nothing better to do."

"Who are you?" Will asked me.

"Victoria Turner," I replied.

"Turner?" he questioned.

"What's wrong with Turner?" I replied. Before he could say anything else, I added, "May I ask who you are?" _Even though I already know._

"Oh, right. I'm Will Turner," he answered, "and nothing is wrong with Turner. It's just odd to meet someone with the same last name as me. Are you related to me at all?"

"Not that I know of," I replied. _Unless you're my great times like twenty grandfather._ Then, offering my hand to him, I said, "It is very nice to meet you, Will."

"It's nice to meet you too, Victoria," Will replied as he took my hand. "But are you sure you want to help me? I mean, wouldn't your family be worried about you?"

I froze at the mention of my family. It was then that realization that I no longer had a family sunk in. Will must've realized that he said something that upset me because he started to say something else. I cut him off by saying, "No, they wouldn't care."

"Oh, alright then," he said. I think he realized that I didn't want to talk about it right then. "If you're sure that they won't care, you can come with me. I'll admit that I could probably use some help."

"Thanks," I told him.

"Alright then," he said. "Let's go." He turned and I followed him towards the prison. I had to jog to keep up with him. We went into the prison and down the stairs. Will made it down with far less trouble than me. My clumsiness had returned in the form of somersaulting down the stairs.

Will turned around when he heard me fall. "I'm alright," I told him with false cheeriness. When he looked doubtful I added, "No, really. I'm fine."

He shook his head and turned to the row of cells. "You! Sparrow!" he called to Jack.

Jack, who sat up as I tumbled down the stairs, said somewhat boredly, "Aye?"

"You are familiar with that ship, the _Black Pearl_?" Will asked him.

"He's heard of it," I said the same time Jack said "I've heard of it." Both Jack and Will gave me an odd look. I shrugged and said, "Well, if that one navy guy said that he mentioned it then he's obviously heard of it."

"Right you are, lass," Jack said, accepting my explanation.

"My name's not lass," I muttered.

"Where does it make berth?" Will continued.

"Where does it make berth!?" Jack and I exclaimed. Jack shut me up with a glare and continued, "Have you not heard the stories? Captain Barbossa and his crew of miscreants sail from the dreaded Isla de Muerta."

I couldn't resist taking the next line so I said, imitating Jack, "It's an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is." Jack glared at me again.

"I don't know how you're doing that, but it is very obnoxious," he told me.

"The ship is real enough," Will said, distracting Jack. "Therefore, its anchorage must be a real place. Where is it?"

Jack looked at his nails and said, "Why ask me?"

"Because you're a pirate," Will and I replied. Will stared at me for a moment before turning back to Jack.

"And you want to turn pirate yourself. Is that it?" Jack taunted.

"Never!" Will exclaimed, leaning into the cell door. He backed off and said in a defeated tone, "They took Miss Swann."

"Oh, so it is that you've found a girl. I see," Jack replied. "Well, if you're intending to brave all, hasten to her rescue, and so win fair lady's heart you'll have to do it alone, mate. I see no profit in it for me."

"I can get you out of here," Will told Jack.

"How's that? The key's run off," Jack and I replied.

This time I got a glare from Jack and a speculative look from Will. "I'll explain later," I told them, deciding to tell them where I came from. "Just tell Jack how you'll get him out."

"Oh, right," Will replied. "I helped build these cells. These are half-pin barrel hinges." Will grabbed a bench and braced it on the bottom of the door. "With the right leverage and the proper application of strength…"

"The door will lift free," I concluded.

Jack was looking at Will, deep in thought. "What's your name?" he asked Will.

"Will Turner," Will replied.

"That would be short for William, I imagine. Good, strong name," Jack commented. "No doubt named for your father, eh?"

Will paused and said, "Yes."

"And what about you?" Jack asked me.

"What?" I replied. I had been wondering how many teenage girls would kill me to be here right now.

"Your name?" Jack prompted.

"Oh, that," I said. "It's Victoria Turner." Before Jack could ask me anything else, I added, "and as far as I know, I'm not related to Will here."

"Uh-huh," Jack replied, "Well, Mr. Turner, I've changed me mind. If you spring me from this cell, I swear on pain of death, I shall take you to the _Black Pearl_ and your bonny lass. Do we have an accord?" Jack offered his hand to Will.

"Agreed," Will replied, accepting Jack's hand.

"Agreed," Jack sealed the deal. "Now get me out."

Will and I leaned into the bench, and with a loud clang the door lifted free. I helped Will move it to the side.

"Hurry," Will told Jack, "someone will have heard that."

"Not without my effects," Jack replied.

"Never without his effects," I commented.

"I heard that, lass," Jack said as he returned.

"Call me Tori," I told him dryly.

"Fine," Jack replied. "Will, Tori, let's go."

"Do you have a plan?" Will asked him.

"Just follow me," Jack told us.

Jack led us through Port Royal and down to the bay where the _Dauntless_ and the _Interceptor _were docked. We found ourselves hiding under the dock as Jack explained his plan.

"We're going to steal the ship?" Will concluded. "That ship?" he asked, indicating the _Dauntless._

"Commandeer," Jack corrected. "We're going to commandeer that ship," he said pointing to the _Interceptor._ "Nautical term. One question about your business, boy, or there's no use going," he said to Will. "This girl—how far are you willing to go to save her?"

"I'd die for her," Will replied.

"Oh, good," Jack told him. "No worries then. What about you, lass?" he asked me.

"She's not my girl," I told him. "And it's Tori, not lass."

"No, how far are you willing to go?" Jack sounded annoyed.

"I told Will I'd help him, so I'll go as far as he does," I replied.

"You do realize that you could die?" Jack asked me.

I shrugged and said, "I could also live."

"Good answer," he told me. He then spotted an opening for us to make our move because the next thing he said was, "Come on."

We quickly ran over to a long boat and crawled under it. We then walked into the water and then under the water with air trapped under the boat as our air supply. It was a lot harder than it looked. For one thing, the boat kept on trying to float upwards, and I had trouble getting a good grip on it. Well, at least Jack and Will seemed to have a grip on the boat.

"This is either madness or brilliance," Will commented.

"It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide," Jack replied.

"Truly remarkable," I said dryly.

"Are you mocking me?" Jack asked me.

"No, not purposely," I answered. I saw the fish trap pass underneath me. "Will, watch out for the…" He grunted as he stepped on it. "…fish trap." The fish trap actually proved to be useful. Once we got it off of Will's foot, we used it as a grapple to climb up the backof the _Dauntless._

"Everybody stay calm!" Jack announced. "We are taking over the ship."

"Aye! Avast!" Will added as I stumbled down the stairs.

"Don't do that again," I told him as I stood up and the men laughed at us.

The officer, I think his name was Gillette, told us, "This ship cannot be crewed by two men…and a very clumsy girl." I glared at him. Ignoring me, he continued, "You'll never make it out of the bay."

"Son," Jack said, pointing his gun at Gillette's face, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?" He got ready to shoot. Gillette didn't need to be told twice. With Jack's gun to his head the whole time, he ordered his men into the longboat and off of the ship.

"Do you know anything about how to sail a ship?" Jack asked us.

"A little," Will replied.

"Nothing at all," I answered.

"Since this isn't the ship we're commandeering, just start pulling some ropes or something. I'll show both of you what to do when we get on the _Interceptor_." With that Jack sauntered of towards the stern, to disable the rudder chain if I remember rightly.

"Well, let's get to it," I said and I grabbed a rope and pulled it. The pulley it was attached to fell right next to me. "Then again…maybe not," I said, eyeing the pulley suspiciously.

"Look," Will said. "I think they've noticed us."

Indeed they had for the _Interceptor_ had turned and was coming for us. Will and I joined Jack near the stern of the ship. "Here they come," Will told him. Jack grinned.

"Do you remember the plan?" Jack asked us.

"Yes," Will replied.

"We had a plan?" I said sarcastically. I earned a glare from Jack. "Yes, I remember it."

"Good," he replied as the _Interceptor_ came closer. We dropped down until the ship was boarded and we heard the Commodore giving the order to search the ship. Then, we snuck over to the ropes the sailors used to swing over and we used them to get onto the _Interceptor. _As Will cut the ropes connecting the two ships, the Commodore finally noticed that something was amiss.

"Sailors! Back to the _Interceptor_! Now!" we heard him order. _It's about time he noticed us. _He was too late. I laughed as one sailor's attempt to get back ended with him landing in the water.

"Thank you, Commodore, for getting us ready to make way," Jack called. "We'd have had a hard time of it by ourselves." They shot at us then. I could here the bullets whizzing by my head. Jack and Will ducked.

"Tori! Duck!" Jack yelled seeing that I was still standing.

I didn't move until I felt what seemed like a red hot poker graze along the side of my head. I yelled in pain and surprise and Will grabbed a hold of my ankles and dragged me to the floor. We stayed down there until we were out of range of Norrington's men.

* * *

Oh, no! Tori's been shot! Will she survive? Is she even seriously injured? The answers to this and more are found in Chapter 3. Coming soon to a fanfiction near you. Again, please review. Constructive crtiticism is always welcome ;) 


	3. Tortuga?

Here it is. I told you it wouldn't be long. The questions from Chapter 2 are answered and Tori finally reveals to Jack and Will where she's from. Anything that sounds fluffy is unintentional. That's just how it turned out. To clarify something I forgot to mention before, there are no OC pairings in this story. Tori may be obsessed with Will, but since I made her father like him it would be kind of weird if they got together. In fact, except for Will/Elizabeth, there are really no pairings at all. Enough said. Here's Chapter 3.

* * *

"Are you all right?" Will asked me as we got up. 

"Ow," I replied. I reached my hand up to my head and felt a long scratch running from just above my right temple to above my ear. A bullet had grazed my head. It was bleeding a lot, as head wounds often do, but it was shallow. "I'll be fine," I told Will.

"What on earth do you think you were doing?" Jack demanded. "If you're gonna help, you need to be more alert than that."

"I donÙt know what I was thinking," I said quietly. I moved away from them and went down the stairs to the lower part of the deck. There I sat back and closed my eyes, trying sort out what was happening. Everything was so sudden; my dad was killed, I find myself in Port Royal, and I help Jack and Will steal a ship all within one day. So, there I sat, putting all of my whirling thoughts out of my mind for a moment, smelling the salty tang of the sea, and feeling the sun on my hands and the wind in my face.

I was startled out of my meditative state by the sound of cloth ripping and a bucket of water sloshing. Will had brought over a bucket of water and some cloth and was now tearing to cloth into strips to bind the wound on my head.

I glared at him and said, "You don't really have to…" _In other words, leave me alone!_

"I insist," he replied cutting me off, "Now hold still." With that he proceeded to bind my head. I hissed in pain as he cleaned the wound.

"Sorry," he told me, "seawater was the best I could find. Well, it's cleaner than the other water I found."

"And we have to drink that?" I asked.

"No," he replied. "The drinking water is somewhere below deck. The other water is used for cleaning."

"That's good," I sighed. "Damn, does that sting."

He chuckled as he moved on from cleaning the wound to binding it.

"I'll have to remember to duck next time," I said as Will finished.

"If we're lucky, there won't be a next time," Will replied.

"If we're lucky," I concluded, "but our future is pretty dangerous. We're gonna need a lot of luck to catch up with the _Pearl_. I just hope that things don't change too much now that I'm here."

By then, Jack had come down by us and was giving me an odd look. "What do you mean by that, lass?" he asked me. He ignored the glare I gave him because he called me lass after I told him at least twice, maybe three times, to call me Tori.

"Well…" I had no clue where to begin, "good question."

"You mean you don't know what you meant?" Will asked.

"No, I mean that it's a long story, I have no clue how to say it, and I highly doubt that either of you would believe it anyway," I told them.

"And how would you know that?" Jack asked.

"I donÙt know," I replied, "but if it weren't for the fact that I can feel pain here, I'd be thinking that this was a dream." When they simply stared at me, I sighed, "Well here goes nothing. I come from roughly 400 years or so into the future." Will simply stared at me dumbly, and Jack looked like he was trying to figure out if I was drunk or not. "This is gonna take awhile," I muttered to myself. Well, about a half hour of explanations later, with questions such "What is a movie?" from Will, and "Is there rum in the future?" obviously Jack, I think they finally got it.

"If that's what your world is like," Jack finally asked, "then how did you get here?"

The question hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew they were going to ask, but I wasnÙt quite ready to talk about what had happened the night before. I sat for a moment fidgeting with the hilt of my sword. Trying for a somewhat evasive answer, I said, "IÙm not exactly sure. I fell asleep in my world and woke in the streets of Port Royal." Well, that was true. I simply didnÙt explain what had happened before I fell asleep.

Jack, however, seemed to know that I was trying to avoid saying something. "Did something happen before you fell asleep? Something that might indicate as to how you got here? I don't think you just fell asleep in your bed and woke up here."

I found myself looking at Will, who looked so much like my father. "My father," I finally said. Looking at Jack, who looked somewhat startled, I continued, "If you must know, my father was shot and killed by a drunken man, and the man looked as if he was going to kill me, too. I was running from him when I found a cave. I fell asleep in that cave and woke up here. I swear he looks just like you, Will. My father I mean." Will looked somewhat confused by that last comment. "Well, if I'm from the future and my family name is Turner, then it's likely that my father and I are some sort of distant descendants of you," I added.

"So you are related to him," Jack said.

"I don't know," I replied, "It's possible."

"With what you said about these…movie things," Jack said, "do you know what is going to happen?"

"In theory," I replied, "but it might be different because I'm here. In the movies, I don't exist, or at least I'm not here."

"I see," Jack replied. At this point we moved back up the deck near the wheel.

Will, however, seemed to have other matters on his mind and decided to change the topic to his father. The next thing he said was, "At the jail, it was only after you learned my name that you agreed to help us. Since that's what I wanted, I didn't press the matter. I'm not a simpleton, Jack. You knew my father."

"See, that was different from the movie," I told Jack. "In the movie he mentions his mother, then coming out here to look for his father before he says what he just said."

Jack nodded and then said to Will, "'Course I knew 'im. Probably one the few who knew him as William Turner. Everyone else just called him Bootstrap or Bootstrap Bill."

"Bootstrap?" Will questioned.

"Pirate name," I told Will.

"Right," Jack added, "he was a good pirate. Good man, too. I swear you look just like him."

"My father was a merchant sailor," Will said almost defensively, "not a pirate."

"Not really," I said. "Though, merchant sailor is a pretty fancy title for a pirate."

"See, she agrees with me," Will stated, "…somewhat."

"Actually I meant about Bootstrap looking like you," I told him. "I really don't see the resemblance."

"That aside, your father was a bloody pirate, a scallywag," Jack told Will.

By now, Will was a bit angry. Pulling out his sword he growled to us, "My father was not a pirate." Turning to me, he demanded, "How would you know what he looked like anyway?"

"Movies," I shrugged.

"Put it away, son," Jack said, unconcerned by the fact that a sword was a foot away from his face. "It's not worth you getting beat again."

Will frowned, "You didn't beat me; you ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd kill you."

"He does have a point," I told Jack.

Jack rolled his eyes and said, "Then that's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?" Then Jack turned to wheel so that Will got caught on the yard of one of the sails. "Now, as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention," Jack continued. "The only rules that really matter are these - what a man-

"Or woman," I added.

"-can do and what a man-"

"Or woman" I added again.

"Stop that-can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that someday."

"A lot sooner than you think," I said to Will.

"Enough," Jack said to me. To Will he said, "Now, me, for example, I can let you drown but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga with just me and a clumsy girl, savvy?"

"Hey! I'm not that clumsy!" I protested.

Jack glared at me and said, "You're really not helping at all." Turning to Will he continued, "So..." he swung the yard around again so that Will landed on the deck. "Can you sail under the command of a pirate? Or can you not?" He handed Will his sword.

"I suppose I can," Will replied. "Are we really going to Tortuga?"

"Aye," Jack responded, "Tortuga it is."

"Speak like Yoda you do," I said.

"What?" Jack was giving me an odd look.

"Never mind," I told him. After I moment I asked, "So, how long will it take to get to Tortuga?"

"About three days, give or take," Jack replied. Looking up at the sky, he continued, "I'd wager close to four." I looked up trying to figure out what he saw, but all I saw was clouds and sun.

So began our journey to Tortuga. The wind was nonexistent the first day so we didn't get very far. It gave Will and me a chance to learn how to sail a ship. There was a lot of pulling ropes, scrubbing, and climbing into the rigging to furl and unfurl the sails. I thought that the rigging was fun…until the _Interceptor_ started rocking. Although it was somewhat scary, it was still fun to be up there. I could feel the wonderful breeze and, I don't know, I just felt so alive up there. Jack had to yell at me to get down because he had decided that it was time for us to find something to eat. The only problem I really had being up there was that I always seemed to have the unfortunate luck to fall the last few feet down every time I tried to climb down. Later that day, Will started practicing his sword-fighting. He noticed me watching and asked if I wanted to join in.

"Sure, why not?" I answered.

"How much do you know about using a sword?" he asked me.

"Umm, pointy end into your enemy," I said hesitantly. "Oh, and avoid your enemy's pointy end."

"That's about all you really need to know," Jack said, overhearing our conversation.

Will shook his head and began to teach me some basic moves. I caught on pretty quickly, and we moved on to some mock fights. Somehow, despite my clumsiness, I managed to block or dodge Will's blade most of the time. He got a few nicks in, but try as I might, I could not get a hit in on him. It was also harder than it looked. A sword is a lot heavier than I initially thought it was.

"Always balance on the balls of your feet!" he called to me. "Never stand flat-footed."

"Why not?" I grunted. By that time I was starting to get worn out.

"You can't," he swiped at me and rapped my left knee, "dodge as quickly."

So we followed that routine the next few days. Get up in the morning, eat breakfast, work on the ship, which for me meant up in the riggings or the look-out post, eat lunch, take a break for a few hours, which was when Will and I practiced sword-fighting, and then it was back to work until supper.

The winds picked up around noon the second day. It was on that day while exploring the ship that I found a tri-corn hat that fit me and the book that IÙm writing in now. I also found a pistol and some extra ammunition. I took these things and stowed them in a small, empty store room that I had put a hammock up in and was using as a bedroom.

The third day, I somehow managed to beat Will in a duel. He thinks I'm getting better, but I think it was a total fluke. I mean, he's been practicing for years, I assume, and I for only three days. Does it seem likely that I'd be able to best him in that time? Later Jack showed me how to shoot the pistol I found earlier. Once I got it, it was surprisingly easy. My aim sucks though. I was trying to hit an orange that Jack had put on the side rail and wound up hitting a barrel two feet to the left. That evening while in the lookout post, which had more or less become my appointed job, I spotted the speck of land that was Tortuga.

The fourth and final day of the journey to Tortuga, the speck grew closer and became a large island. By noon we were close enough to land, but the winds wouldn't let us land until early evening. I didn't beat Will that day, but I managed to fend him off for longer than I could before. So I am getting better, like Will thought, but the previous day was a total fluke, like I thought. Finally, we made port at Tortuga.

"We've arrived," Jack told us.

"Please keep your hands and feet in the vehicle until it comes to a full and complete stop," I said.

Jack and Will stared at me and I shrugged in response. We tied the ship up at the dock and then proceeded into the noisy and sex-crazed city that is Tortuga.

* * *

So they're off to see the wizard...I mean they've made it to Tortuga. If you're wondering why it took four days to get there, that's because travel in the 1600s (when I think the movie took place, although it never says) was relatively slow. Even though the movie made it look like it took only a night, I think that it took Jack and Will three or four days to get from Port Royal to Tortuga. I found a site that is pretty useful in guaging travel time. If you want the link, PM me. I'll get it to you eventually.

Last but not least, Chapter 4 is on its way. It'll be put up once it makes it through editting on last time. Thanks to those who've read this story so far, and double thanks to those who left reviews. I hope you continue to enjoy this story.


	4. Aye, Tortuga

Well here's Chapter 4. I probably won't be updating quite as often now. I've been getting bogged down schoolwork. Anyway enjoy this next installment of What a Ride.

* * *

The first impression I got of Tortuga was noise and complete chaos. There were people running everywhere, sitting on barrels drinking, chasing each other. There were just so many people. I'm fine if I'm around a lot of people and I know all of them, like at a family gathering, but I'm not fine in a crowd of people I don't know. I get…agitated to say the least, especially if it's noisy and the people are bumping into me, like it was here. Put simply, I have issues with crowds. I was walking pretty close to Jack and Will, as if they could shelter me from the crowd.

I wasn't exactly paying attention to what was being said, but I heard Jack say, "I'll tell you mate, if every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted."

"Sure," I replied, "If you're into sex." Then somebody bumped into me. "Can we go somewhere less crowded?" I asked him nervously.

"Why?" Jack replied.

"I don't do well in crowds," I replied. Before Jack could respond to that two women walked up, a red-head and a blonde.

"Scarlet!" Jack said to the red-head. Scarlet responded with resounding slap and walked away.

"Giselle," Jack addressed the blonde.

"Who was she?" she asked, referring to Scarlet.

"What?" Jack earned a second and harder slap.

"Let me guess," I said to him. "You didn't deserve the first one, but you may have deserved the second one."

"Yeah, pretty much," he replied.

We continued onward. I wasn't exactly sure where we were heading, and in rush of people I got separated from Jack and Will. "Oh, bugger…" I muttered. _I've been listening to Jack too much. _I tried to go in the general direction that we were traveling, but a large man ran into me and knocked me over.

"Watch where yer goin," he growled at me.

By now my temper was pretty frayed and I just lost it. "You watch where you're going, buddy!" I yelled at him. "You're the one who knocked me over!" The man glared at me and I realized my mistake. This guy was at least twice my size and very drunk and angry. _This is not good. I just got an incredibly huge dude angry at me._

He drew his sword and came closer to me. "What did you say to me?" he growled angrily. _Why is it that the drunk ones always want to kill me?_

I drew my own sword and backed up. "You better back off," I told him. "I'm warning you!"

In response the man swung at me and I jumped away. The crowd around us parted to give us some space to fight. He swung again and I blocked him as I frantically tried to search for some weakness that I could use against him. The force of his swing jarred my shoulders and stunned me for a moment, but I recovered before he could take advantage of that. The duel continued. I simply tried to defend myself and look for openings. Then, I noticed that the man was standing flat on his feet. _He can't dodge as quickly! _I swung at him and he jumped back, but I managed to cut the arm he was using to fight. He switched to his other arm and his attacks came faster and harder. I was getting worn out when I heard a familiar voice call out from the crowd.

"Tori!" I heard Will call. Then he saw the trouble I was in. He drew his sword and jumped into the fray just as the man knocked me over. He raised his sword over me, swung down, and the harsh clash of swords meeting was heard as Will blocked the blow. Will then began to fight the man as I got up and snuck behind them. I grabbed a conveniently placed shovel and swung it into the man's head. He fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

Will made sure the man was out, and then said, "What do you think you were doing? You could've gotten yourself killed."

Still somewhat angry, I snapped, "The man knocked me over, I yelled at him, he attacked, and I was defending myself!" Will took a step back from me as I yelled, "That's what I think I was doing!" With a snort, I went over to pick up my sword from where I dropped it when the man knocked me over during the fight. It was then that I noticed that my hands were shaking pretty badly. "Where did you guys go?" I asked trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

"We found a man, Mr. Gibbs, that Jack is talking to now about getting a crew," Will said. "When we realized that you weren't with us, I came back to find you. Jack says we'll find him in a tavern called The Faithful Bride."

"Something this town lacks," I muttered. "I'm assuming that you know the way?" I asked Will.

"Yes," Will replied. "Let's go."

In The Faithful Bride the noise level and the amount of people seemed to double._ Great, more people._ We made our way over to where Jack and Gibbs were sitting just as Jack said, "Let's just say it's a matter of leverage, eh?" He noticed Will and me and said, "Oi, if you two would be so kind, keep a sharp lookout."

"That means they don't want us eavesdropping," I said quietly to Will.

"Hmm, I wonder what they're saying?" Will asked.

I didn't hear him. I had closed my eyes was trying to go to my happy place, but it wasn't working. The crowd was still there. I opened my eyes and noticed Will turned towards Jack and Gibbs. Just as Gibbs said, "The kid?" I hissed to Will, "If you're going to eavesdrop, don't be so obvious about it." He looked in the other direction, but now I decided to pay attention, too. It was better than forcing myself to ignore everything.

We both heard Jack saying, "That is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His only child, savvy?" Will turned slightly to hear better. Suddenly, a large hand went over my mouth, and an arm wrapped around me, pinning my own arms to my sides. I tried to cry out, but my voice was muffled by the hand and it was too loud for me to be heard.

The person who grabbed me carried me out of the tavern and into a back alley. There, he threw me roughly to the ground. I look up at my kidnapper and saw the man from the fight earlier standing over me. Before I could move he lifted me by my shirt and slammed me roughly into the wall.

"Your little boyfriend ain't here to save you this time," he taunted. _Little boyfriend!? So Will and I are an item now._

I responded by kicking him in the groin. He dropped me as he doubled over, and I tried to get away, but he recovered too quickly. He slammed his fist into my face and I fell back a few feet. He grabbed me again and said, "My are you a feisty one."

_Ugh, what a pig!_ I struggled in his grip and shuddered as the thought of what he might do to me passed through my mind. _He goes from angry drunk to rapist in a very short amount of time. I should've hit him harder with that shovel. _He held me with one hand and reached the other hand to my face. Then, I struck again. I bit his finger until I tasted the slightly metallic taste of blood in my mouth. He roared in pain and let me go once again. I started to run again, but he tripped me. Before he could grab me again I pulled out my gun and stood up.

"Don't take a step closer to me," I warned as I had the gun raised to him, "or so help me, I'll shoot you."

"Do ya even know how to shoot?" he laughed.

"Do you want to find out?" I responded coolly. I cocked the gun.

He answered by rushing at me. Without thinking, I shot. The man yelled in pain and fell to the ground. He lay there, staring at me with cold, empty eyes. I had killed him. I took a step back in horror, and then I ran. I ran back inside and right into Will, nearly knocking him over.

"Tori," he said, "Jack's rented a room for us for the night. It's just upstairs…" he trailed off as he saw the bruises that were starting to form on my face. "Are you alright?" he said in concern.

"No, but can we talk about it in the room?" I said hurriedly, trying to keep the waver out of my voice. Instead of waiting for an answer, I pushed past him and went up the stairs. We entered the room. It was rather small, but there were four beds in it and it had some semblance of clean. Jack was already lounging on one of the beds. I noticed that it was the one that looked the least likely to eat whoever lay on it. He sat up as we walked in.

"About time you two love-birds came up here," he teased. Then he saw the expression on my face. "Did something happen? Will didn't try to break up with you, did he?" He laughed at his own joke.

"Jack," Will warned as I sat down on the bed next to the one that Jack was on.

"Alright, I know you two aren't a couple," Jack explained. "What's really bothering you?"

"I-I shot a man," I stammered. "And killed him."

"What!?" Jack and Will exclaimed at the same time.

I thought they were accusing me of something. I mean, I've never shot at a person before, much less hit that person. So I said defensively and rather quickly, "I warned him to stay back, but he didn't and I shot him and…and he just fell. I didn't mean to kill him!"

"Whoa, calm down," Jack said. "We're not accusing you of anything. Now, who was this?"

"A man I ran into earlier, when I got separated from you guys on the way here," I explained. "He had knocked me over and told me to watch where I was going. Remember when I told you that I don't do well in crowds?" Jack nodded and I continued, "Well, I kind of become...well, not kind of, I _do_ become very short on patience and jumpy. You can't exactly predict when my temper goes. This man telling me to watch where I was going when _he _knocked me over sent me over the edge. I yelled at him and that was my mistake. He was drunk, and this guy was huge. I mean he was at least twice my size, probably even twice yours, either of you, and I had just gotten him very angry." I paused here to gather my thoughts.

"So that's why that man was fighting you," Will commented.

"He drew his sword on me, I drew mine in self defense, and we started to fight," I continued. "I stayed on the defense, but I did see an opening when I noticed he was standing flat-footed."

"You are learning," Will said to me.

"Don't sound so surprised," I responded. I was starting to calm down a bit now. "Anyway, I struck then and hit the arm he was holding his sword with. He switched arms and attacked harder and faster. He'd knocked me over when Will came just in time to save me. As Will fought with the man, I grabbed a shovel and knocked him out. Then we came here."

"I had wondered what kind of trouble you had gotten yourself into," Jack said.

"More than I bargained for," I continued, "because later when Will and I were keeping lookout, I was grabbed and taken out of the tavern and into a back alley. My captor was the same man I fought with earlier. He had me cornered and he was going to hurt me, somehow…" I trailed off here. I really did not want to say that the guy wanted to rape me at that moment.

"I think we understand what you're trying to say," Will said. "Don't we, Jack?" Jack looked at Will for moment, thinking about what I was trying to hint at. Then he looked at me, probably seeing the bruises on my face, and got an "Aha! I get it now" expression and nodded.

_Wow, Captain Obvious, a.k.a. Will, gets a subtle explanation. I'm impressed. _"Yeah…" I said. "I managed to get away from him enough to draw my gun. I warned him to stay back or I'd shoot him. He lunged at me, and I fired my gun and hit him in the chest. Then I ran inside."

"You killed him?" Jack asked.

"Yes," I replied. "I can't believe I just killed somebody."

"You did do it in self-defense," Will pointed out.

"Did anybody see you?" Jack asked me.

"I hope not," I replied. "It was in the back alley, so I don't think so." I lay down on the bed. "It's always the drunk ones that want to kill me," I said to no one in particular.

"Well," Jack said, "We should get some rest now. Tomorrow we get ourselves a crew."

"Yay," I muttered to myself. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. In my mind, I could see my dad as he realized that he was in danger. I could hear the bang of the gun being fired, and see Dad falling to the ground. Then, I could see the man coming at me; he seemed to be blended with the Tortuga man. He had his gun raised to me, a mix of murderous intent and lust in his expression. I was frozen in fear. Then he fired…and with a gasp I sat bolt upright in my bed. _Where am I!?_

I looked around, trying to catch my breath. I guess I fell asleep without realizing it. The room was dark now. The only light came from the moon shining through the window. Jack lay in the bed next to mine, nearest to the window, snoring softly. On the bed on other side of me, I could just make out Will. I couldn't tell whether he was asleep or not though. I got up walked towards the window trying to calm myself down. I stared out into the moonlit streets of Tortuga, watching people walking around and listen to various arguments that made their way up to the window.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Will asked, causing me to jump about five feet into the air. I didn't hear him come up behind me.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I'm just having trouble getting used to things. Within five minutes my whole life was just turned upside down."

"Still worried about that man?" he asked.

"He's dead now. It's done and over with. And I don't really want to talk about it much."

"You sort of know what's going on. I mean with the whole future thing."

Now, that was out of the blue. "I guess. Is there something you wanted to know?"

"I understand if you won't tell me. I don't think we're supposed to know the future, but…"

"But what?"

"Is Elizabeth alright?"

It really shouldn't have surprised me, but I was still startled by Will's question._ What do I say to that? It's bad enough I know what's going on. God knows what'll happen if one of the main characters knows._ Sighing, said, "Unless things are different, she's holding her own."

"But she's alright, right?"

"I believe so." We fell silent as we both became lost in our thoughts. Then something struck me. "Maybe I really am related to you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, my father's name was William Turner, which doesn't really mean much, but he was William Turner the twenty-fourth. About 400 years ago, well now I guess, the name started getting passed from father to son. It had became a tradition."

Will seemed to be quite startled by this information. "You're saying your father is part of a 400 year long line of William Turners?"

"Yeah"

"So maybe you are related to me."

I sighed. "Maybe. It seems unlikely, but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that you are my great times twenty-three grandfather."

"Wow, I feel old now," Will said sarcastically.

"Hey, sarcastic comments are my specialty," I replied. "Besides, at this point in time, I don't think you're much older than I am. Maybe a few years, but don't feel too old."

"And how old are you?" Will asked.

"I turn 16 in a month," I replied. "Well a little less than a month."

"I'm a little more than three years older than you," he stated.

"Wow," I replied. _19! I knew that Will was young, but I didn't think he was that young. _"You know? If it weren't…" I paused to yawn. "Excuse me. If it weren't for the fact that I have gotten hurt here," I gestured to my head, "I would be thinking that all of this was just a dream, a somewhat terrible dream."

"I guess, seeing as how you've been more or less thrown from your world into mine," Will replied. Then, another topic change, "You know, from when you first offered to help me, I've had a feeling that you will have some important part to play in the near future."

_Since when does he pick up on vibes like that?_ "Uh…" I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "It's too late for psychic predictions. We should probably try to get some sleep."

"I think Jack's already a few steps ahead us," Will said. It was true. Jack had been snoring quietly through our whole conversation. Looking at him reminded me of how tired I was.

"Well," I tried to suppress a yawn, "good night then." I heard him reply as I went back to my bed. A few moments after I lay down again I heard Will get back into his own bed. Somehow I managed to fall asleep again, listening to Jack's rhythmic snores.

* * *

So there you go. Tori gets herself into a bit of trouble. Random conversation towards the end, but whatever. Chapter 5 should be coming soon... if I don't get too much homework...


	5. To the Dreaded Isla de Muerta

I got a snow day a few days ago, so I figured that I might as well update. For some reason it wouldn't let me update. Otherwise you would've gotten Chapter 5 sooner. Anyway, thanks to all who have left reviews, and enjoy this next installment of What a Ride.

* * *

"Whoa!" Jack's voice woke me the next morning. I was so startled that I fell halfway out of the bed. 

"What the hell?" I responded groggily. "Wha's goin' on?"

"You could've woken her up a different way, Jack," I heard Will say.

"It worked," he responded. I saw his face hanging upside down over mine. "You are awake, aren't you?"

"Will's right you know," I told him as I straightened myself out. "I don't really appreciate getting scared half out of my wits first thing in the morning."

"I shall keep that in mind next time I need to wake you," Jack replied.

"Whatever," I said crabbily. "What's going on?" I asked them.

"We're going to see the crew that Gibbs has found," Jack replied. "So get out of bed so we can get moving."

"Hoorah," I said sarcastically. A few minutes later I found myself following Jack and Will through the streets of Tortuga, again. Things seemed to be a lot calmer in the daylight. "Where'd all the drunks go?" I asked.

"Probably nursing morning hangovers," Jack replied. "You won't see many out in daylight." We had arrived at the docks by now. Gibbs walked up to meet us and led us at a pretty fast pace to a group of men lined up by the _Interceptor_. Will and I had trouble keeping up with him.

"Every man here is worth his salt," Gibbs was saying as Will and I caught up. I looked over the group. I couldn't help but notice that some of the men looked like they'd be better off anywhere than on a ship.

"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked somewhat scornfully.

"Hopefully more able-bodied than they look," I commented.

Jack ignored us and approached the only person with a parrot on his shoulder. "You there! Sailor!"

"Cotton, sir," Gibbs told Jack.

"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" Jack asked the man. Cotton simply looked at Jack. "Mr. Cotton!"

"Answer him," I said. "It took Johnny Depp several takes to get that line right."

Gibbs gave me a very suspicious look before saying, "He's a mute. We trained the parrot to talk for him."

"Mr. Cotton's parrot," Jack said, "Same question."

"Wind in the sails," the parrot squawked.

"No one's quite figured how to train the parrot," Gibbs admitted, "but we believe that means yes."

"Of course it does," Jack replied. He turned to Will and me. "Satisfied?"

"You've proved they're mad," Will replied.

"Who's Johnny Depp?" Jack asked me.

"Remember what I told you about actors?" I responded. Jack nodded. "Johnny Depp was the actor that was you."

"What's the benefit for us?" a voice further down the line interrupted. Jack approached the speaker, who was wearing a large hat to cover her face.

"He's gonna get slapped," I muttered to Will.

"What makes you…" a resounding smack interrupted Will "…say that?"

"Did you deserve that one?" I called to Jack.

"I definitely deserved that," he replied.

"You stole my boat!" Annamaria stated and slapped him again.

"Borrowed without permission," Jack corrected. When Annamaria looked ready to strike again, he added quickly, "but with every intention of bringing it back to you."

"How can you get it back to her?" I giggled. "It sunk."

"What!?" Annamaria exclaimed and slapped Jack a third time.

"You'll get another one," Jack said, rubbing his face.

"I better," Annamaria warned.

"A better one," Will added, also intent on getting Jack into trouble.

"That one, in fact," I said pointing to the _Interceptor_.

"That one?" Jack growled at me. The crew was looking at him expectantly. "Aye that one. What say you?"

"Aye!" the crew cheered and headed towards the ship. Cotton's parrot could be heard squawking "Anchors aweigh!"

"It's frightful bad luck to have a woman onboard," Gibbs said to Jack. With a significant glare at me, he added, "Two would double it."

"Hey," I protested, "We made it here without much incident. Do you honestly believe that superstition?"

Jack cut off any response Gibbs would've made by saying, "It'd be far worse not to have either of them." Gibbs shook his head and walked away. "I know he's superstitious to the point of being paranoid," Jack warned me as Gibbs walked away, "but please don't anger my first mate, or you will consider yourself unlucky." He looked back towards the crew. "Any reason the two of you saw fit to get Annamaria angrier than she was at me?"

Will shrugged and I said, "Revenge for scaring me out of my wits this morning."

We boarded the _Interceptor_ again and started our journey to the Isla de Muerta. I had taken my customary spot in the lookout post, and I saw some very dangerous looking storm clouds brewing and moving closer to us each second. _Those can't be good._ "Jack!" I yelled down to the deck. When I saw him acknowledge me, I said, "Looks like we got a nasty storm headed our way!"

"Come down then and help the others prepare!" he called back.

I began climbing down. I was about twenty feet off the deck when the storm struck. The ship lurched as a massive wave struck it, and I lost my grip on the ropes I was using to climb down. The waves had tilted the ship so that I was hanging over the sea when I fell. I landed in the raging water and struggled to stay afloat as lightning struck and waves rolled around me. I tried in vain to swim towards the _Interceptor_. Suddenly, I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around me, and my rescuer and I were pulled onto the deck of the ship.

Coughing and spluttering, I turned around to face my rescuer and was startled to see Gibbs sitting next to me. "Knew you were bad luck," he muttered as he stood up and joined the rest of the crew in trying to keep the ship under control. _If he thinks I'm such bad luck…why?_ I was left sitting and staring after him. "I don't believe it," I said to myself.

"Neither do I," Will agreed. He must've come up behind me. I didn't know he was there. "Before any us knew what was happening, he grabbed a rope, told us to pull you up when he got a hold of you, and dove in after you."

"Will! Tori!" one of the crew members called, "We could use your help over here!"

"You up to it?" Will asked.

"Sure, let's go," I replied. We joined the rest of the crew in trying to control the ship in the gale. It was tough work. We kept on getting knocked over whenever the ship gave a huge lurch or a large wave washed over the deck. Eventually, we wound up working near Gibbs.

"How can we sail to an island that cannot be found with a compass that doesn't point north?" Will yelled over the storm to Gibbs.

"The compass may not point north," Gibbs yelled back, "but we're not trying to find north." Gibbs went up to the helm to talk to Jack.

"It still doesn't make sense," Will shouted to me.

"I don't understand it much either," I replied.

The storm blew itself out nearly an hour later. Everyone was exhausted, and as soon as Jack assigned a few sailors to stay on watch, we all went gratefully below deck. I had survived my first storm at sea.

A few rather uneventful days later, we sailed into a foggy lagoon. "Dead men tell no tales," the parrot squawked, adding to the spooky atmosphere. I was reminded of the very beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. "Ye have been warned," I muttered to myself.

"Puts a chill in my bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," Gibbs stated. I looked off to the side and could make out the shapes of sunken ships just beneath the surface of the water. I jumped in surprise when our ship struck one of the sunken ships. "Best get used to that missy," Gibbs commented. "There's plenty down there we could hit." Jack was looking at the compass intently and snapped it shut when he noticed Cotton watching.

"How did Jack get that compass?" Will asked.

"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta," Gibbs replied. "That was before I met him, back when he was Captain of the _Black Pearl_."

"He failed to mention that," Will said.

"He plays things a lot closer to the vest now," Gibbs replied. "It was pretty hard-learned lesson, too."

"So let me guess," I said. "He said a little too much and that knowledge was used against him."

"Aye," Gibbs replied. "Three days out on the venture, the first mate comes to him and says that everything's an equal share so that should mean the bearings of the treasure. So Jack gave up the bearings."

"There was a mutiny," Will stated.

"Aye, there was a mutiny," Gibbs affirmed. "They marooned him on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the heat."

"So that's the reason for all the…" Will made the strangest face I've ever seen anyone make and accompanied it with an equally strange gesture.

"Do you realize how you looked?" I asked him.

"No," Will replied, and I imitated him imitating Jack. He raised his eyebrows in response.

"Put simply, you looked like you were trying to use mystical powers and failed," I told him.

"Reason's got nothing to do with it," Gibbs cut us off.

"Then what does?" I asked without thinking.

"Wouldn't you go mad if you were left on a desert island with naught but a pistol with a single shot?" Gibbs asked me.

"Well…" I shrugged, "I don't know."

"How did he get off the island?" Will asked.

"I'll tell ye," Gibbs replied eagerly. "He waded out into the shallows and there he waited three days and three nights till all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, lashed 'em together and made a raft."

"He roped a couple of sea turtles," Will said doubtfully.

"Aye, sea turtles," Gibbs replied.

For some reason I always found the way Gibbs said "sea turtles" funny. I laughed to myself, "Sea turtles."

"How is that funny?" Will questioned.

"I don't know," I responded, "It just is." Gibbs rolled his eyes and a thought struck me. "What did Jack use for rope, then, if all he had was a pistol?" I had honestly forgotten what the answer would be. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked.

"Human hair," Jack said startling us all, "from my back."

"Ugh," I replied. I got up and looked around. We had arrived at the Isla de Muerta, the Island of the Dead. This looked like it was going to be fun.

"The Turners and I are to go ashore," Jack stated. "Let go the anchor!" he yelled to the rest of the crew. Annamaria repeated the order.

"What if the worst should happen?" Gibbs asked.

"Keep to the code," was Jack's response.

* * *

Ah, yes the pirate's code. Whatever you do, don't dis the code in front of Jack's father. You might wind up getting shot. 

Anyway, I'll update soon (I hope). All of my teachers decided to get the big projects in before the holidays, so... I'll see what I can do.


	6. Pirate Code

Sorry about the super long wait. I got caught up with exams and end of the semester projects and stuff. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it... Enjoy

* * *

Once again, I found myself in a longboat between Jack and Will. _I'm probably envied by many a fangirl right now…_ Though, this time I was in the boat instead of under it. Anyway, were in a cave, floating along. It reminded of the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride when that voice is yelling, "Dead men tell no tales!" Basically, there were gold and skeletons everywhere.

Since it reminded me of the ride anyway, I started to sing the pirate song. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. We pillage, we plunder we rifle and loot. Drink up me hearties, yo ho. We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot. Drink up me hearties, yo ho. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

"Where'd you learn that?" Jack asked.

"In a galaxy far, far away," I replied, which meant I didn't really want to answer. Jack sighed in annoyance.

We settled into silence as we drifted through the cave. Finally, Will broke the silence by asking, "What code is Gibbs supposed to keep if the worst should happen?"

"Pirate code," Jack replied.

"Anyone who falls behind, gets left behind," I finished.

"You know, Jack," I started.

"Captain Jack to you," he snapped.

"Alright, _Captain_ Jack. What if I'd rather not keep to the code? What if, say Will got left behind and I decided to go back for him?"

"Then I'd leave you both behind, and get the keeper of the code to hunt you down and kill you, if you aren't already dead."

"No heroes amongst thieves," Will said sourly.

"It's more the person who fell behind sacrificing himself for the safety of his comrades," I commented. Will gave me a dark look. "My friend said it, not me," I said defensively.

"You know, William," Jack stated, "you're well on your way to becoming a pirate."

"I am not!" Will protested.

"Well…" I added, "We sprung a man from jail and sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Toga Toga Land." They both stared at me for that one. "I mean Tortuga. And don't ask, because I won't give you a straight answer." I think that I would just scare them if I told them about some of the conversations my best friend, Amanda, and I have had about Pirates of the Caribbean, especially our more recent ones about pairings. Somehow, I don't think that Will's father and Barbossa getting together would sit well with them.

"Anyway," Jack said, still staring at me. He turned to Will, "You're completely obsessed with treasure." At this point we landed, and we continued traveling on foot.

"I am not obsessed with treasure!" Will stated.

"Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate," Jack replied. We had reached the area where Barbossa's crew had gathered. Barbossa was giving some speech about suffering and being punished. Elizabeth stood calmly next to the chest, though she looked somewhat apprehensive when Barbossa gestured to her.

"Elizabeth!" Will whispered when he noticed her. He started to go to her, but Jack stopped him.

"Wait for the opportune moment," Jack told him.

"Jack, we have to do something," Will protested.

"Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?" Jack asked.

"Several," I replied.

"Alright, now both of you do us a favor," Jack started.

"Is Jack referring to himself as multiple persons now?" I asked. I was starting to become irritated. Like Will, I thought we should've been doing something.

Jack sighed. "Stay here and try not to do anything…stupid." Smack! Without either me or Jack noticing, Will had picked up an oar and used it to knock Jack out.

"Don't hurt me," I said when it looked like Will was going to hit me too. "I'm on your side. Just go get Elizabeth. I'll find a way to keep them from chasing us."

My grand plan to keep them from chasing us was to gather up all of the oars and pile them into one of the longboats. By the time I finished, Will had come over with a bewildered Elizabeth in tow.

"This is supposed to keep them from chasing us?" Will asked doubtfully.

I glared at him and snapped, "If they have no oars, they will trouble following us. I dare you to come up with something better." When Will failed to respond, I grabbed a pair of oars and tossed them at him. "Let's get going then." Somehow, the three of us and the oars managed to fit in the longboat. I guess Elizabeth didn't really want the oars in the boat because once we got out of the cave she started dumping them. We made it back to the _Interceptor._

"Not more pirates," Elizabeth sighed when she saw the crew.

"They're on our side," I told her. She looked doubtful until she noticed Gibbs.

"Where be Jack?" Gibbs demanded of us.

"Jack?" Elizabeth asked in confusion. "Jack Sparrow?"

"He fell behind," Will replied, and led Elizabeth below deck.

"There was the code to consider," I added after they left. Gibbs nodded and reluctantly gave the order for us to set sail for Port Royal.

I returned to my customary lookout post up in the crow's nest. An hour or so later, after a gloomy sunset, I was called down to let another crew member take the night shift. For once, I made it down to the deck without falling the last few feet. I was just in time to see Will come up from below. His expression was a mix of anger and regret.

"What's up, Chuck?" I asked without thinking.

"My name's not Chuck," Will muttered darkly.

"Sorry," I said, "My dad used to ask me that when I was upset all the time." I sighed as the thought of my dad inevitably saddened me. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about? I lost my temper. Elizabeth now thinks that I'm angry with her when I don't even know what to feel about it. With your whole movie thing, you probably know what happened in there, anyway."

"It was a scene in the movie, but…" I trailed off, not really sure what I was going to say.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Will said gloomily. "I'm probably just the boy they rescued eight years ago to her, anyway." He started to walk away.

"You'd be surprised," I said quietly. He paused for a moment; then continued walking. _That was different. I hope he got the hint about Elizabeth. It wouldn't be good if he just gives up now. _I sighed as I looked out to sea. Of course since it was dark out I couldn't really see a thing, but at least the fog seemed to be lifting. A few minutes later, I went below and went to bed for the night. It had been a long day.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Will and Elizabeth were making a point of avoiding each other. About mid-afternoon, I spotted the _Black Pearl_ chasing us. I passed on the word to Gibbs, who ordered me to stay on deck in case things get nasty. Apparently the crow's nest isn't a safe place during a cannon fight. While I stood by Annamaria, Gibbs began giving the orders necessary for us to try to outrun the _Pearl_.

"What's happening?" Elizabeth had come over by Annamaria and me when she noticed the commotion.

"The _Pearl's _gaining on us," I told her.

"That's not possible," Elizabeth replied. "This is the fastest ship in the Caribbean."

"Tell them that after they've caught us," Annamaria snapped.

"Wait," I said, "we're shallow on the draft."

"How is that supposed to help us?" Annamaria asked me.

"We could try losing them amongst those shoals," Elizabeth pointed out.

"We wouldn't have to outrun them long," I told Annamaria.

"Just long enough," Gibbs joined in. "Lighten the ship!" he called to the rest of the crew. "Anything we can afford to lose, see that it's lost!" That lasted for about ten minutes until Barbossa decided to have his crew bring out the oars on the _Black Pearl_.

"Well that worked," I said to myself sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" Annamaria asked.

"They have oars," I sighed.

"Well, it _was _a good plan," Annamaria stated.

"Gibbs!" Will called as he came over to join us. He must've noticed the oars, too. "We must fight! Load the guns!"

"With what?" Gibbs demanded.

"Anything! Everything!" Will gestured vaguely. "Anything we have left."

Gibbs gave the order to load the guns. He went down to supervise, then came back up a few minutes later. "The _Pearl's _going to luff up on our port quarter."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. I had trouble understanding Gibbs when he started using sailor lingo.

"She'll come up on our side and blast us to pieces before giving us a decent target fire at," Gibbs explained.

"Drop the anchor on the right side," Elizabeth said. When everyone stared at her dumbly, she repeated, "On the starboard side!"

"It has the element of surprise," Will and I said at the same time.

"You're daft, lady!" Annamaria said in amazement, "All three of you are!"

"Daft like Jack," Gibbs grinned. "Lower the starboard anchor!" he called. When the crew hesitated he added, "Do it you dogs, or we'll load you into the cannons!"

With a lurch that knocked me to the floor, the _Interceptor_ veered sharply to the right. The _Pearl_ had to veer to her left to keep from hitting us. This caused the two ships to line up parallel to each other, perfect for blowing the living daylights out of each other. The crews of the two ships hooted and jeered at each other as they awaited the order to fire. Almost simultaneously, Will yelled, "Now!" and Elizabeth and Barbossa yelled "Fire!" The cannons were fired and the ship shook with the vibrations of shooting cannons and having holes blown into it.

"We could use a few more ideas," Gibbs called to us.

"Your turn," Elizabeth yelled to me and Will.

"We'll give them her," Annamaria said, grabbing Elizabeth.

"She's not what they're after," I said. "They want the medallion."

Elizabeth reached for her throat, "I don't have it!"

Will went below deck to search for it just as Barbossa's crew began to board and the hand-to-hand fighting begun. The _Pearl _got in a lucky shot and broke through one of the masts. In the resulting confusion, Jack had made his way back to the _Interceptor_ and saved Elizabeth.

"Where's the medallion?" he demanded of her.

"Wretch!" she exclaimed and tried to slap him, but he caught her hand.

"Ah," he said as he noticed the bandage there, "where is dear William?"

"Oh right!" I exclaimed. "He got trapped below when the mast fell."

"What?" she said as she looked around. Then she noticed the grate that Will was under. "Will!" she exclaimed and ran to help him.

I started to follow, but was stopped dead in my tracks by the damn monkey hanging right in front my face. I froze as he stared at me. I noticed the medallion in his paw, but I was too startled to grab it. Then, Jack noticed him. "Monkey," he said as he went after him. With an ear-splitting shriek, the monkey took off. "I hate monkeys," I muttered to myself.

I turned to rejoin the fighting and was smacked on the head right where the now almost completely healed wound on the side of my head was. As everything went dark, I felt a pair of hands grab me roughly and carry me away.

* * *

Captured by the pirates...Oh my! And you get introduced to the weirdness of my friends. What could be better? Perhaps the next chapter coming sooner than this one did... 


	7. Spit of Land Ho!

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the almost year long wait for an update. So much stuff has happened to me, family, school, etc., and my Pirates muses have decided to abandon me in favor of Fullmetal Alchemist. I will be finishing this story, but the updates will be slow in coming and there isn't much chance that there will be a sequal. Well, with the apologies out of the way... here's chapter 7.

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I came to was that I had a monster headache. Although, it probably didn't help that Pintel was talking loudly about parley and using guts as garters. I opened my eyes and found myself on the _Black Pearl_, tied to a mast with the rest of the crew. The rest of the _Pearl's _crew was looking out towards the _Interceptor_, waiting for something. Just as I remembered that the _Interceptor_ was going to explode, it did. Even knowing that it was going to happen and that Will was going to come out of it alright didn't lessen the shock of seeing the ship that had begun to feel like a home to me blown to pieces.

Elizabeth, however, didn't have the benefit of knowing that Will had survived that explosion. She went under the rope that was binding us to the mast and started attacking Barbossa. Well, she attempted to anyway.

"Welcome back, Miss," Barbossa said as he grabbed her. "You took advantage of our hospitality last time. It only holds fair that you return the favor."

"No!" I yelled and crawled under the ropes as Barbossa shoved Elizabeth towards the crew. I tried to help her but one of the other crew members grabbed me. As things started to get rough, a voice rang clearly over all of the commotion.

"Barbossa!" It was Will. He leapt onto the deck, took what happened to be Jack's pistol, and pointed it at Barbossa. "They go free." I have to admit that that line right there, although originally it was "She goes free," was one of the reasons that Will Turner is my favorite character. There was just something that I found so awesome about it. Seeing and hearing it in person was twice as amazing. Barbossa wound up ending my fan-girl like train of thought when he spoke to Will.

"What's in your head boy?" Barbossa demanded.

"They go free!" Will repeated.

"You've only one shot and we can't die."

I heard Jack muttering, "Don't do anything stupid."

"You can't," Will answered, "but I can." He jumped onto the rail and aimed the gun at his own head.

"Like that," Jack sighed.

Barbossa looked incredibly confused now. "Who are you?"

"No one," Jack interrupted before Will could answer. "He's no one. A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew twice removed. Lovely singing voice, though - eunuch."

"What is it with you and calling him a eunuch?" I asked Jack.

Will gave me a funny look before answering Barbossa's question. I would've thought that Jack would be giving me funny looks for that one."My name is Will Turner. I am the son of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His blood runs in my veins."

"He's the spittin' image of ol' Bootstrap Bill come back to haunt us," Ragetti said.

"You just noticed that now?" I asked him. "He's been here for like ten minutes." Ragetti made a dark face at me.

"Now, you do as I say," Will continued, "or I'll pull this trigger and be lost to Davy Jones' Locker."

"Name your terms," Barbossa replied.

"They go free," Will said for at least the third time.

"Yes," Barbossa sighed, "we know that. Anything else?"

Jack started gesturing to himself, but Will missed the meaning of that. "And the crew," he said, "the crew are not to be harmed." Jack dropped his arms in defeat.

A half hour later, we were a short distance from a small island. The crew laid down a plank on the edge of the deck and forced Elizabeth onto it. One of the other pirates told me I was next. As soon as, Will realized what was going on, he started to go for Barbossa. As the crew restrained him he yelled, "Barbossa, you lying bastard! You swore they'd go free!"

"Don't dare impugn me honor, boy!" he roared back as they gagged Will. "I swore they'd go free, but it was you who failed to specify when or where." He turned back towards Elizabeth. "It does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads?" The crew chuckled in agreement. "So I'll be having that dress back before you go."

"It goes with your black heart," Elizabeth relied harshly as she threw the dress at him.

"Ooh, it's still warm," Barbossa commented.

"You disgusting bastard," I said to Barbossa.

"Now that's no way for young lady such as yourself to speak," he responded. Meanwhile, one of the other pirates decided Elizabeth had been on the plank long enough and bounced it so that she fell into the water. "You're next, you little wench," Barbossa said to me.

"It is not entirely proper to call a lady a wench," I replied as I walked out onto the plank. "See you later, Barbie," I taunted before I dived off. The look on his face when I said that was priceless. I wish that cameras had been invented so I could've taken a picture of it.

A few minutes later, I was crawling onto the beach. "I'm starting to hate that man more and more," I muttered to myself.

"At least you didn't have to be on the same ship as him for nearly a month," Elizabeth replied.

"That's true," I sighed. Elizabeth's statement made me realize that I had lost track of how much time I was here. Back when we were going to Tortuga, Will and I had established that except for the 400 year or so gap, we were on the same date. Elizabeth had just said it had been about a month. That meant it was close to my birthday. "Elizabeth, do you happen to know today's date?"

"It's the 28th of May," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

It was my birthday! "I lost track," I answered. I was about to add something more when Jack arrived.

"That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with my ship," he muttered to himself. Then without a word to either of us he started walking into the trees.

Elizabeth got up to follow him. "Are you coming?" she asked when she noticed I wasn't following.

"Nah," I replied. "I'd rather stay here."

She shrugged and went after Jack. While they were gone, I wound up falling asleep. I had to have been asleep only a few minutes when I was woken by something landing on my stomach. I sat up and looked at it. It was a bottle of rum. Jack and Elizabeth had returned.

"You do realize that I don't drink, right?" I asked Jack.

"It's either that or coconut water," he replied.

"I'll take my chances with the coconuts." I tossed the bottle towards Jack and began my exploration of the tiny island. It wasn't really as bad as Jack made it out to be. I wouldn't have wanted to be stuck there indefinitely, but it was a beautiful island. I found a ripe coconut on the ground under one of the trees. I used my sword to break it open and tried some of the juice. I spat it out immediately. I had just learned that I simply can't stand the taste of coconuts. I decided to explore some more. As I explored, I began humming the main Pirates theme to myself.

"That's a catchy tune," Elizabeth said from behind me. I jumped and drew my sword in surprise.

"Sorry," I said when I realized it was her. "You startled me."

"I can see that," she replied. "I didn't mean to anyway. Did you find anything interesting?"

"No," I sighed. "Well, I did find some coconuts, but for some reason I can't stand the taste of them. I might have to drink the rum after all. I really wish that wasn't the case. Alcohol has cost me too much."

"What do you mean by that?" Elizabeth asked.

"When you and Will were talking yesterday, did he mention anything about me?"

"He said that you were from the future, and what's happening now is some sort of story. He didn't really go into much detail, and he didn't really seem to understand it either."

"I can imagine. I had enough trouble explaining to him, and I was born there. Did he say anything about how I got here?"

"Just that you fell asleep in your time and woke up in ours."

"Before that…my father and I ran into a very drunk man. The man became angry with my father and…" I paused. Even a month later, it was still hard to talk about. "He shot my father…and killed him. He then started to come after me. So, I ran, found a cave to hide in, fell asleep there, and woke up in Port Royal." Elizabeth started to say something, but I stopped her. "It's not necessarily the alcohol I hate, but how irrational it makes people."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said.

"For what?" I replied. "You can't do anything about what happened. It's in the past…well to me it is. I guess technically now it's in the future." I stared out to the sea, which was still visible from where we were standing.

"I can still feel bad about what happened," Elizabeth replied.

I didn't respond right away. After a somewhat awkward silence, I finally spoke. "You know, they say that when you lose someone close to you, birthdays and holidays can be especially difficult to get through. I didn't realize how true that was."

"Why? Is today your birthday?"

"Yes," I answered. "I turn 16 today. Maybe today's just harder because I have more time to think about it." I got up and walked back to the beach where Jack was. Elizabeth followed. Jack was in the exact same spot that he was in when I left. The bottle that I had thrown at him earlier lay in the sand a few feet from him. I picked it up and looked at it.

"I thought you said you didn't drink," Jack said.

"I don't," I replied, "but I can't stand the taste of coconuts." Jack seemed to find this immensely amusing. As he laughed at me I tried a taste of the rum. "Bleagh!" I spit the rum out. It was a lot stronger than I expected it to be, and it tasted terrible.

"What was that for?" Jack exclaimed. "That was perfectly good rum!"

"It was nasty," I replied. "I don't see how you can drink this stuff."

"I don't see how you can not drink it," Jack argued.

"Well," I responded angrily, "I prefer not to let my self become a drunken lunatic." I walked a little ways down the beach. With an angry yell, I threw the bottle as hard as I could into the ocean. I noticed Elizabeth coming over to where I was. "We need to find a way off of this island," I said as she approached. I thought of the movie. "Maybe a signal fire or something, but I can't remain sane on island with only coconuts and rum."

"I know," Elizabeth said as she got an idea. "We could start some of the trees on fire and use the rum to build it up large enough to be seen for miles."

"Jack wouldn't let us burn the rum, though," I replied. "We'd have to start it after he falls asleep…or we could knock him out."

"From how frustrated you seemed with him earlier, I think you would kill him if you tried to knock him out."

"Darn," I said, regaining some of my sarcasm, "I was looking forward to hitting him. Then we wait for him to fall asleep. If he drinks like it looks like he's going to, it shouldn't take long."

"It shouldn't take too long," Elizabeth agreed, "but in the meantime, let's go back by Jack. If we spend too long over here, he'll think we're up to something." Elizabeth started heading back.

"But we are up to something," I commented as I followed her.

A few hours later, dark had fallen and we had a bonfire going. Elizabeth was putting on quite an act of being drunk, and I think, well I know that Jack really was drunk. Elizabeth had started teaching Jack the pirate song, and they had progressed to singing and dancing around the fire. With nothing better to do, I decided to join them. For the heck of it, I started singing "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from the Lion King. By the time I was done with it, Jack and Elizabeth were sitting next to each other and staring at me.

"Welcome to my childhood," I said to them. "That's just a song that I've heard from when I was very young."

"That was different," Jack commented.

"Unlike the pirate song," I said, "I actually know most of the words to that one."

Elizabeth effectively distracted Jack from any further comments by saying, "It must be terrible for you to be trapped on this island again, Jack."

"Oh, yes," he replied and reached towards her. "But the company is infinitely better than the first time."

"Whoa, if you're gonna do that, I'm leaving," I stated.

"Mr. Sparrow," Elizabeth said as she pushed his hand away, "I don't think I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk."

"I know exactly what you mean," he curled his mustache.

Elizabeth raised her bottle. "To freedom."

"To the _Black Pearl_." Jack downed the rest of his bottle. As he drank he fell slowly backwards until he was lying on his back, passed out from the rum.

"Is he out?" I asked.

"I think so," Elizabeth replied.

"Only one way to find out." I crept up to him and tried waking him in the same manner that he woke me back in Tortuga. I leaned towards him and yelled, "Whoa!" He didn't move. "He's out. What's the plan?"

"We move the fire towards the trees and use the rum to light the trees on fire. That ought to make a fire large enough to be seen for miles."

"Sounds like a party. Let's do this."

"Where'd you get your accent?" Elizabeth asked as we began to move the fire. "I've never heard anyone speak like you do."

"It's a Mid-western accent," I replied. "I come from Wisconsin."

"Where's that?"

"It doesn't exist yet. Well, the land that will eventually be Wisconsin exists. It's on the mainland, several hundred miles north, north-west of here."

"Oh, it's in the French territory, isn't it?"

I was trying to remember my colonial history. I know that Wisconsin was part of the Louisiana Territory and that the United States got it from the French, but I thought it belonged to Spain at one point in time, too. "Yeah, it's either France's or Spain's."

So we worked through what was left of the night on our signal fire. I have to admit that it was a lot of fun to throw crates and bottles of rum onto the fire and watch them explode. It felt like I was purging some sort of destructive force that had been building up inside me. Needless to say, the fire was a great way for me to end my 16th birthday. Jack on the other hand, was not so happy about the fire.

Morning came, and just as Elizabeth was throwing the last crate of rum on the fire we hear, "Not good! Not good! You burned all the food, the shade…the rum!" Jack had woken up and was protesting our signal fire.

"Yes, the rum is gone," Elizabeth responded.

"Why is the rum gone?" he demanded. I walked away as Elizabeth went into her "rum rant" but I was still close enough to hear Jack say "But why is the rum gone?" I burst out laughing and Jack glared at me. In frustration, he took out his pistol and pointed at Elizabeth. Then, he turned and pointed it at me since I was still laughing.

"Are you going to waste your only shot on me?" I asked between giggles.

"No," he said simply and walked away, muttering to himself.

"That was fun," I commented. I noticed a ship out in the bay and a longboat coming towards us. "Looks like he'll have to come with us, though. I doubt that they didn't see him."

"Unfortunately," Elizabeth replied, "but at least we're getting off of this island."

* * *

And that's Chapter 7. I'll try not to be too long in updating, but we all know what happened last time I said that. (Awkward laugh... Ooo look a panda!) Anyway, sorry again for the super super long wait and I'll try my best to get this story finished for you.


	8. Rescued and to the Rescue

You guy are lucky I had this chapter mostly written a few months ago. The next chapter likely won't be so soon in coming. Anyway... enjoy.

* * *

"But we've got to save Will!" Elizabeth protested as Norrington gave the order to return to Port Royal.

"We can't just go back to Port Royal and leave him at the mercy of the pirates," I added.

"No," Governor Swann replied, "you're safe now."

"Yes," Norrington agreed. "We're not going gallivanting after pirates." Elizabeth and I glared at him as he looked at me and said, "We need to get you back to your family Miss…"

"Turner," I told him, "and I have no family here." Switching back to the previous topic I added, "By not going after him, you're condemning Will to death."

"His fate is regrettable," the governor added, "but so was his choice to engage in piracy."

"To rescue me!" Elizabeth added. "To prevent anything from happening to me!"

"Will is a citizen of England, I believe," I said. Norrington gave me a look that seemed to say "I know that." "Isn't it your duty then, as a ranking officer of the Royal Navy, to make sure no harm comes to him?" I seem to remember something to that effect being said in one of the bonus scenes that were on the DVD.

Before Norrington had a chance to reply, Jack spoke. "If I may be so bold as to inject my professional opinion," Norrington gave him a sharp look. Jack ignored him and continued, "The _Pearl_ was listing near to scuppers after the battle. It's very unlikely she'll be able to make good time. Think about it, mate. The _Black Pearl_. The last real pirate threat in the Caribbean. How can you pass that up?"

"By remembering that I serve others," he snapped, "not only myself."

"Then do it for me," Elizabeth said, "as a wedding gift."

"Elizabeth, are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?" Governor Swann asked.

"I am," she answered. Norrington looked startled and perhaps a bit disappointed that she was attaching such a term to marry him.

"A wedding?" Jack exclaimed. "I love weddings! Drinks all around!" When faced the disapproval of almost everyone else on the ship, except for me, I was trying not to laugh, he held his hands up and said, "I know. 'Clap him in irons' right?"

Norrington grinned and said, "Actually, Mr. Sparrow, you will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with the bearing to Isla de Muerta." Jack looked somewhat relieved at that. "You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase 'silent as the grave.' Do I make myself clear?"

Jack pulled a face and replied, "Inescapably clear." The sailors led Jack to the bridge.

"Elizabeth, you should probably stay secluded in my cabin," Norrington said to her. "We unfortunately have no women's attire on board." He glanced at me and said, "That goes for you as well Miss Turner."

"I'll pass," I said. "I'm good with what I've got."

"And I'll just wear men's clothing," Elizabeth stated.

"Elizabeth," Governor Swann said, "it's hardly proper for a lady to…"

"I'm not staying in a cabin this entire voyage!" she snapped. "Besides, I seem to recall falling off of a cliff the last time I received fashion advice." She marched off and went below deck. Everyone else decided they had other things to do then, and they also left. Elizabeth returned a few minutes later in a spare officer's uniform to find me standing alone.

"You don't look half bad in that," I told her.

"Considering that you're dressed as a man, I'm not surprised to hear that from you," she said.

"Well, where I come from, it's not so strange to see a woman in pants," I said.

"Pants?" she questioned.

"Trousers, breeches, I don't know what you really call them," I shrugged.

"Either works," she said. "Where'd you get pants from?"

"That's what we call them back home."

"Oh." She was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"Being home."

I didn't quite know how to answer. Sure, I missed my dad. I also missed some of the conveniences of the modern day, such as showers, but I didn't really miss the rest of my family. Finally I answered, "I really only miss a few people. Except for two of my cousins and my best friend, I don't really care for anyone back home. I kind of enjoy being here, and I certainly don't want to go back now."

"I don't see how all of this can be enjoyable."

"Well, this isn't exactly enjoyable, but it's a lot different than where I come from. It's a lot different than I expected too."

"Then you should stop expecting things, lass," Jack said, startling us both.

"How many times have I told you that my name's Tori, not lass?" I demanded.

"A fair amount," he grinned.

"I'm out of here," I replied. "I'm going to get some sleep." I didn't really have the patience to deal with Jack. I had just been up all night throwing rum onto a fire, and I was dead tired. So with that final word to them, I went below and searched for a place to sleep. One of those two Navy clowns that Jack confused in Port Royal helpfully pointed the way to a small, vacant cabin. I lay down on the bed in there and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day, we were back at Isla de Muerta. It was almost nightfall, and the _Black Pearl_ was already there. I found myself wondering how it could even sail with so many holes in the sails. Anyway, Norrington talked with Jack, and they came up with some grand plan to rescue Will. Night fell, and two officers came and grabbed me and Elizabeth.

"Hey! Let me go!" I protested.

"Sorry, Miss," the officer said, "It's for your own safety."

"I have to warn them about the pirates!" Elizabeth yelled as we were thrown into Norrington's cabin. "They can't be killed!"

"Oh, don't worry about that," one of the officers said sarcastically, "A mermaid flopped on deck and told him the whole story." He smiled as if he said something clever and closed the door.

As Elizabeth vainly tried to open the door, I went to the bed and began tying sheets together. "I see you're planning on not staying here," she commented.

"Are you?"

"No."

"I think we should go the _Black Pearl_ first. The crew from the _Interceptor_ is there, and we could probably break them out."

"They could help us."

I sighed, "I don't think they'll help us, but if we let them out Barbossa wouldn't have a ship anymore."

"That's true." We had finished tying sheets together now, and we had a chain long enough to get to the water without making too much noise.

"Besides," I added as we draped our make-shift rope over the balcony rail. "If we go the _Pearl_ first, then we won't have to swim all the way to the cave. We could just take one of the longboats." We climbed down and into the water. Then, we swam over to the _Black Pearl_ and climbed aboard. As we climbed, we noticed two pirates near a window below deck. They were debating about what they were going to eat first once the curse was lifted. We made it to the deck.

"So," I said quietly, "what now?"

I was answered by a piercing shriek. The monkey had dropped down right in front of us and gave a deafening shriek. I froze, but Elizabeth responded by picking it up and tossing it overboard. I must've looked startled still because she said, "I'm guessing you're not very fond of monkeys."

"No, I-" I paused as we both heard footsteps pounding towards us and someone yelling. "Hide!" I whispered.

We ducked behind some barrels just as the two pirates we saw talking below came up. They went to the rail and looked over the side that Elizabeth had thrown the monkey over. Elizabeth was trying to gesture something at me. She pointed at a longboat suspended by two pulleys and mimed it swinging into the pirates. I nodded to tell her that I understood, and we crept out, grabbed the boat, and pushed it as hard as we could into the pirates. They fell into the water.

"Let's go get the others," Elizabeth said, and I followed her below deck. We somehow found the way to the brig. The crew was locked up together in one cell.

"It's Elizabeth and Tori," Gibbs informed the rest of the crew.

"Indeed," I replied.

"How are we going to get them out?" Elizabeth asked. She had noticed the lack of keys to the cells.

I looked around the room and noticed some debris in an open cell. "Leverage," I answered as I grabbed a plank of wood about half my height and the width of my hand. I jammed one end of it under the cell door and threw all of my weight onto the other end. The door lifted loose and I went crashing to the floor.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked me.

"Yeah," I said as I stood up. "Stuff like this happens to me all of the time."

She shrugged and we all went back out on deck. Elizabeth immediately went for the longboat we used and tried to pull it down. "Will is in that cave and we need to rescue him!" she said, pulling on the boat. She stopped when nobody helped her. "Please, I need your help," she pleaded.

"Any port in a storm," the parrot squawked.

"Cotton's right. We've got the _Pearl_," Gibbs stated.

I sighed in irritation. "It's a parrot for God's sake. How do you even know that that's what Cotton is really thinking?" Gibbs glared at me.

"What about Jack?" Elizabeth questioned. "You're not just going to leave him, are you?"

"There's the code to consider," Gibbs replied.

"Screw the code!" I snapped, moving over to stand by Elizabeth. "You're pirates for crying out loud."

"They're more like guidelines anyway," Elizabeth added.

A few minutes later Elizabeth and I were rowing to the cave, alone. "Bloody pirates…" Elizabeth muttered to herself.

"Well at least they helped us get the boat into the water," I sighed. "I wasn't expecting them to help at all." She made a noise of agreement and we paddled on in silence. I was starting to get a very bad feeling about this.

Inside the cave was complete pandemonium. Jack was on one end fighting with Barbossa and Will was on the other, cornered by a few of the other undead pirates. I drew my sword and Elizabeth picked up this golden rod…thing and we rushed over to help Will.

"I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain!" one pirate yelled just as Elizabeth and I came up.

"You like pain?" Elizabeth asked, bashing the guy with her staff.

"Try wearing a corset," I finished. After some weird… I really have no clue how we managed it, but we got three pirates strung together on the rod/staff thing. Will stuck a small bomb in one's chest and we shoved them back out of the moonlight.

"No fair…" the one with the bomb in him whined just before they exploded.

"Who's side is Jack on?" Elizabeth asked, noticing he was cursed.

"At the moment?" Will shrugged.

"He's on his own side," I replied.

"Whelp! Catch!" Jack yelled, throwing the medallion towards Will.

Will caught it and started to make his way up the pile of gold to the chest. At that moment I noticed a pirate we had missed get up and run after Will. "Will, look out!" I yelled but I was too late and the pirate cracked Will across the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking him out.

"Not good. Not good," I stammered, running over towards Will. "Damn it! He's out cold… Elizabeth! Keep him busy," I yelled, shoving the pirate towards her. She picked up a sword from a fallen pirate.

"What will you do?" Elizabeth asked. I took the medallion from Will and rushed up to the chest. "That won't work!" A single shot rang out in the cavern.

"Jack…" Barbossa sighed. "You carry that pistol ten years and you waste your only shot on what can't die?"

"He didn't waste it!" I yelled, dropping the medallion, with my blood on it, into the chest.

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Oooh cliffy! You'll find out in the next chapter if Tori's blood even works. Hang tight! I'll try not to be too long in updating...


	9. A Curse Is Lifted

Okay, so here's the final chapter of my story. Again sorry for the superlong waits for updates. I had such major writer's block getting this story finished. So I guess without further ado, prepare yourselves for the long awaited conclusion to 'What a Ride.'

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"Are you mad?" Barbossa laughed at me. "That couldn't possibly…" he trailed off as a bloodstain began to grow on his shirt.

"You were saying?" I said rather smugly, even though I had no clue if it would work either.

"You are… his daughter?" Barbossa asked, falling against the wall because he was losing so much blood. "I thought… he had only one… child."

"No," I replied. "I am not his daughter. My father was William Turner the twenty-fourth. His was the twenty-third and so on. The line goes all the way back to the first William Turner, that is Bootstrap Bill Turner." Judging by the fact that my blood worked, it is safe to say that I am a descendent of Bootstrap.

"What in the… blazes are you?" Barbossa asked weakly.

"Just some girl from the future," I shrugged.

"I feel… cold…" With that Barbossa took his last breath and died.

I sighed and pushed the lid to the chest shut. Then I went down by the others. "Thank God that worked," I said in relief.

"You mean you didn't know if it would?" Jack asked.

"Nope," I said. "I was just going by guesswork.

"So if it didn't, I would've wasted my only shot," Jack stammered.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Even Gibbs must agree that you're lucky, lass."

"My name's Tori," I growled. "And yeah, I guess it was lucky."

Several days later…

"It's not fair!" I yelled. "He did nothing wrong! In fact, he _helped_ save your fiancé!"

"Rules are rules," Norrington said. "And the fact of the matter is that Jack Sparrow is a pirate and must pay for his crimes."

A while later, I found myself standing at a hanging. Well first of all, the thought of hanging creeps me out, so normally I wouldn't be there, but Will and I had a plan for setting Jack free.

Anyway, this guy with a poofy wig was reading all of the crimes against Jack, and Will and I were waiting for a signal from the crew of the _Black Pearl_. Suddenly, we both spotted Cotton's parrot. This was our signal to move. We started heading to the front of the crowd. Will went over to talk to Elizabeth and I started clearing a path to the front of the crowd so Will could help Jack.

"Move!" Will yelled to the people who were still standing in the way. They quickly moved out of the way. Then Will threw his sword just as the trapdoor opened. The sword embedded in the trapdoor so that Jack had something to stand on without getting strangled. After that all chaos broke out, and we began fighting with the soldiers.

Suddenly there was a roar from behind me, and the last thing I remembered was something hitting my head hard. Then I blacked out. It felt like a few minutes later that I groaned and woke up.

"Hey honey," my dad said. "Nice of you to join the land of the living."

"Dad?!" I said incredulously.

"Who else?" he chuckled. "You fell asleep in the car. We're almost home now."

"So that was all a dream…?" I said softly. I sighed. It must have been all a dream. That was too strange to be real. I mean, somehow going back 400 years and running around with pirates? Just to be sure, I pinched myself really hard to make sure that I was awake now, and it hurt. "It was all a dream…" I muttered.

"What was that Tori?" my dad asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "I just had a bizarre dream." Then something on my palm caught my attention. I looked at my hand and felt a sudden chill run down my spine. On my palm, there was a cut that was in the exact same spot as the cut I made to lift the curse. I shook my head. I didn't remember cutting my hand on anything in this world. It's all a weird coincidence, isn't it?

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So, that's all she wrote folks. I hope you all enjoyed, and thanks to everyone who reviewed. It may not seem like it since updating took so long, but those kept me going on this story. Oh and before you start asking me what really happened, I'll tell you right now that I want you to decide for yourself. That's why I made the ending as ambiguous as it is. Also, don't expect a sequal. Unfortunately, my interests have kind of wandered away from Pirates of the Caribbean, so I most likely will not write any more stories for this fandom. Thanks for reading!


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